Tesla launches battery recycling program in Europe

**Admin** on Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:25 pm

Tesla has been delivering its cool Roadster all around the world for a while now. So far, the company has delivered 1500 of the Roadsters globally. One of the big issues that faces Tesla and any other company selling electric cars is what to do with the battery packs once they are at the end of their useful life.

Tesla has announced that it is launching a new battery-recycling program in Europe to serve Tesla vehicle owners that need to recycle the battery pack in their cars. The Tesla batteries will be recycled at the Umicore UHT facility in Belgium.

The company uses tech to recycle the battery packs and produce an alloy that can be refined further into cobalt, nickel, and other metals that can be used in industry. The material leftover from the recycling is a clean and inert slag with calcium oxides and lithium that is then used in the production of special types of concrete. Tesla points out that the battery packs are good for 7-10 years working out to about 160,000 kilometers of driving in normal use.

Via Slashgear